When 7 Up was originally placed on the market (In 1929), it was named Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda- a much less catchy, though more descriptive name. The ‘lithiated’ in the name came from...
When you spend hours proofreading and retyping essays, you get to wondering- why do we refer to large letters as upper case, and small as lower case? It’s actually a remnant of a past where...
The term “aromatherapy” was first coined in 1937 by Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a French chemist, whose badly burned arm was supposedly miraculously cured by the use of lavender oil. Jean Valnet...
Among the treasures discovered during the famous 1922 archaeological excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb was a jar of honey. Archaeologists tasted it (brave souls those archeologists), and to...
We can now add the newest element to the periodic table. It has been named Copernicium in honour of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish astronomer who first hypothesized that the Earth...
Alexander the Great was known to use aloe as a purgative after being taught about the plant’s effects by his tutor Aristotle. Purgatives were highly valued at the time because it was believed that...
The Shetland Islands are famous for sheep and wool. But did you know that they are also home to the stormy petrel? This unusual bird, so-named because it was thought to appear before a storm, has...
The first scientific observation about breast cancer was made in 1896 when it was noted that the disease sometimes regressed if the ovaries were removed. Eventually this connection was understood...
A dentist named Morton claimed that he could produce surgical anesthesia with this miracle compound and that he would demonstrate it at Mass General. With the observation gallery full and the men...
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